This is an interesting blog which discusses the impacts of generalized strategies adapted in designing public space without considering the needs of children with supporting examples of designs which prioritizes the importance of child friendly practices in designing public spaces to overcome the flaws in current scenario. From one of the incidents discussed in the blog, it is evident from that some of the general public have visible intolerance towards the presence of children in public spaces. Supporting this perspective, most of the early designs are standardized to accommodate only general public and their everyday needs whereas very few designs across the globe had overcame the ignorance towards incorporating child friendly spaces. However, the above mentioned examples appreciates the fact that more efforts are laid now a days to include children to public spaces which encourages participation of children in streets rather than confining them with in boundaries of public parks.
Adding to the insights of the blogs, considering safety and sense of freedom in movement as a basic requirement for child friendly urban spaces, the ideology itself could unify the motive of stakeholders and considerably bring down the automobile dependency in an urban space to pave way for prioritized pedestrian outdoors. One of the best example to support this perspective is Barcelona’s superblocks which restricts the automobile traffic to main roads around consolidated city blocks. This converts internal streets into citizen spaces for culture, leisure and community activities which could have high participation of children in the locality. Also, a city’s socio-economic stability is strongly co related with how much time kids could spend playing outside independently and their contact with the natural elements and open spaces with variety of uses. A city which fails to address this could take away the family from the space resulting in negative cultural and economic instability in an urban fabric (Arup, 2017), In addition to that, encouraging the presence of children alongside adults and senior citizens integrates sense of community and mutual benefits of using a space which impacts everyone’s health and wellbeing. The livable city project in India provides an example of aiming to create active and safe pedestrian networks with accessible streetscapes to increase number of children and family walking, cycling and socialize through open street events. To conclude, in the age of strategies supporting ideas of inclusivity, every individual should be able to access the public space as equal as others, which means children should also be given equal respect, fair treatment towards using public infrastructure beyond restricting their everyday freedom to schools and public parks. (Thornton, 2020)
References
Arup. (2017). Cities alive, Designing for urban childhoods. United Kingdom.
Thornton, A. (2020). In London, children are helping to design the streets. Retrieved from world economic forum: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/12/child-friendly-cities-urban-planning/
This is an interesting blog which discusses the impacts of generalized strategies adapted in designing public space without considering the needs of children with supporting examples of designs which prioritizes the importance of child friendly practices in designing public spaces to overcome the flaws in current scenario. From one of the incidents discussed in the blog, it is evident from that some of the general public have visible intolerance towards the presence of children in public spaces. Supporting this perspective, most of the early designs are standardized to accommodate only general public and their everyday needs whereas very few designs across the globe had overcame the ignorance towards incorporating child friendly spaces. However, the above mentioned examples appreciates the fact that more efforts are laid now a days to include children to public spaces which encourages participation of children in streets rather than confining them with in boundaries of public parks.
Adding to the insights of the blogs, considering safety and sense of freedom in movement as a basic requirement for child friendly urban spaces, the ideology itself could unify the motive of stakeholders and considerably bring down the automobile dependency in an urban space to pave way for prioritized pedestrian outdoors. One of the best example to support this perspective is Barcelona’s superblocks which restricts the automobile traffic to main roads around consolidated city blocks. This converts internal streets into citizen spaces for culture, leisure and community activities which could have high participation of children in the locality. Also, a city’s socio-economic stability is strongly co related with how much time kids could spend playing outside independently and their contact with the natural elements and open spaces with variety of uses. A city which fails to address this could take away the family from the space resulting in negative cultural and economic instability in an urban fabric (Arup, 2017), In addition to that, encouraging the presence of children alongside adults and senior citizens integrates sense of community and mutual benefits of using a space which impacts everyone’s health and wellbeing. The livable city project in India provides an example of aiming to create active and safe pedestrian networks with accessible streetscapes to increase number of children and family walking, cycling and socialize through open street events. To conclude, in the age of strategies supporting ideas of inclusivity, every individual should be able to access the public space as equal as others, which means children should also be given equal respect, fair treatment towards using public infrastructure beyond restricting their everyday freedom to schools and public parks. (Thornton, 2020)
References
Arup. (2017). Cities alive, Designing for urban childhoods. United Kingdom.
Thornton, A. (2020). In London, children are helping to design the streets. Retrieved from world economic forum: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/12/child-friendly-cities-urban-planning/
This blog discusses how children are often excluded from public spaces through city design due to public perceptions. The blog also presents some examples of child-friendly public spaces across the globe which support children’s rights to a liveable city, following UNICEF’s Child Friendly Cities Initiative.
Regarding the Seoul café incident mentioned, there are many people who share the same view that children can be disruptive. This also extends to teenagers, where they are often viewed as a ‘nuisance’ in public spaces. I think it is interesting how cities shape the adult’s experiences of growing up and it seems a disservice to their younger selves when children are suddenly viewed as unwelcome in the same spaces.
Woolley (2006) points out that as children grow older, they have a desire to become more independent. Being able to spend time away from school or home can impact how children develop. This is especially important for teenagers who are learning about themselves before adulthood. However, teenagers are often underrepresented in the design of public spaces.
In Vanderstede (2011), he performed a case study in Mechelen, Belgium, to explore how teenagers interact with the city and the spaces they use. The results showed that teenagers often ‘chilled’ with friends, wandered around the city, went shopping, and played sports. From this, they gathered that the types of spaces attractive for teens included large parks, recreation grounds, semi-private spaces. Having free activities was also a big incentive.
The provision of safe and accessible public space also extends to older children. While designing a public space solely for teenagers may not be necessary, it is important to consider the facilities in existing spaces that are attractive to them. Providing mixed-use space within neighbourhoods gives them a chance to spend time outside of the house or school but within proximity to home. Having large, open spaces gives a sense of privacy. Public-private spaces such as shopping malls offered safety by being surrounded by people. Green and blue spaces offered spaces of relaxation within nature (Höglhammer, 2017).
In conclusion, child friendly cities should extend the freedom to use public spaces across all ages. Public perception does have an impact on how groups are perceived to act within public spaces. Especially with teenagers, who have more negative connotations associated with them. Of course, there may be other factors that contribute to this, but overall, creating spaces with the best interests for children’s development and wellbeing should be priority.
References:
Höglhammer, A. (2017), Factors affecting adolescents’ use of urban public spaces in their leisure time: an exploratory study from the city of Vienna, Local Environment, 23(8), pp. 814-829, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2018.1477744
Vanderstede, W. (2011), ‘’Chilling’ and ‘hopping’ in the ‘teenage space network’: explorations in teenagers’ geographies in the city of Mechelen’, Children’s Geographies, 9(2), pp. 167-184. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2011.562379
Woolley, H. (2006), ‘Freedom of the city: Contemporary issues and policy influences on children and young people’s use of public open space in England’, Children’s Geographies, 4(1), pp. 45-59. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14733280600577368